1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for securing an appliance for shipping. The apparatus may be included in a kit used by commercial moving companies, or by private individuals who would need to secure the drum of a washing machine, or washer, for transport. Particularly, this invention braces the rotatable drum against the housing of a washing machine having little or no centrally located agitator. It is most applicable for today's front loading washers, and a few top loading varieties for which standard agitator securing means will not suffice.
2. Description of Related Art
Because of the sensitive nature of internal components to many appliances such as washing machines, and their relatively low resistance to shock, it is critical that the rotating drum, for example, be stabilized before transportation. This is true for both front loading washers and top loading machines, particularly those having very little to no centrally located, fabric agitator. The present invention provides a securing apparatus and method for securing the drum component in the housing of such machines for safe, cost effective shipping and transport.
Today's typical automatic washing machine includes an operational assembly or system, often referred to as the moving system. It has various components for washing and rinsing fabrics placed in the machine proper. Typical major operational components for a top loading washer include an outer, imperforate tub for holding fluids, an inner perforate basket for holding a quantity of fabrics to be washed, an agitator for moving the fabrics about in the fluid, a pump for circulating and draining the fluid, a motor and a transmission for operating the agitator and pump to spin the basket. The operational assembly, or system, is mounted in a stationary housing and is moveable relative to that housing for accommodating the high degree of rotational and other forces generated during normal operation of the machine. The forces often exerted on a machine during shipment can cause excessive movement and shock to the operational system, with attendant damage. A number of approaches have been taken to prevent damage to the machine during shipping or transport.
For most top loading washers, numerous devices have been disclosed for securing the drums of these machines/appliances during temporary transport. Some secure the rotating, internal drum by positioning various devices beneath the washer lid. For example, Elwell U.S. Pat. No. 3,321,071 includes a plastic, shelf-like unit for installing over the agitator of a top loading washer prior to servicing and/or shipment. In Kelly U.S. Pat. No. 3,249,215, the washer agitator is surrounded by a ring from which several clamp-like supports extend.
Collin U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,930 braced his washer agitator from beneath the lid assembly with a plurality of radially spaced, rigid foam plastic braces. Earlier, the same inventor used a two piece section of stiff matting having a bendable collar, a central opening and tabs for jamming into place beneath a washer lid. See, Collin U.S. Pat. No. 3,335,849.
A slitted block of resilient plastic, hinged about a central aperture for the top to the drum agitator is disclosed as the washing machine packing brace in Kennington U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,232. A somewhat similar agitator brace packing extends from under the top-loading washer lid in Brennan U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,959. It represents an improvement over the earlier packing brace of Elwell U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,365. Later, Brennan would disclose a thick foam variation in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,736. A four-sided variation over the Brennan triangular configurations, using foam for wedging, was patented by Anyon in U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,039.
The shipping system of Fanson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,366,902 used a split block of foam above the top-loading washer drum, but supplemented that with a lower shipping brace, attached to foot holes in the washer base.
Still other top-loading washer securing means require a plurality of locking clamps or rods, typically positioned from the washer bottom, beneath its rotating drum. Representative of these are the shipping restraint system of Ory et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,117 and Lybarger et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,367.
In Muyskens U.S. Pat. No. 7,014,160, yet another washer securing means is disclosed. It requires placing the top-loading washer in a tray from which upwardly extends a multi-tiered, diamond-like corrugated blank for holding the washer drum from beneath. Many international equivalents are known for securing the rotating drum of a washer appliance from beneath, with trays of corrugated cardboard and/or polystyrene foam. See, for example, Japanese Published Patent Nos. 04-128159, 06-156573, 07-041075, 09-156680, 09-315483 and 10-236573.
Finally, in Collin U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,525, there is shown a top-loading washer securing means that employs a plurality of foamed plastic, elongated wedges, each wedge being slotted and sloping upward at one end with multiple grooves at its opposite end.
In recent years, there has been an increase in popularity of the front loading washers more common in Europe for decades. Higher capacity versions of these models, newer to the United States, can be made more efficient in their overall use of energy, water loads and soaps or detergents needed per load. The front loading appliances share much in common with their top-loading counterparts except that most do not require a separate, centrally rotating agitator in their basket or drum. Gravity forces the fabrics being cleaned to rise and fall in these units as their tubs rotate mechanically. Some top loading models have also been developed with an agitator-less fabric cycling means. See the Calypso brand washing plate of Whirlpool.
Regardless of rotating drum positioning, and the means by which fabrics are loaded into same (either front or top-loading), special care must be taken to safeguard the internal mechanicals to such machines when transporting them from place to place, either with their initial purchase or with subsequent relocations.